The latest target of the Waterkeeper Alliance’s lawsuit machine is the poultry farming community on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, who (like hog farmers) were treated to a “summit” complete with insults from Kennedy. Unfortunately, the Waterkeepers have the ear of Maryland’s Attorney General, who encouraged the assembled Waterkeeper supporters to step up the citizen lawsuits that could bankrupt family farmers.

In keeping with this new targeting, a local Waterkeeper accused the Hudson family (fourth-generation poultry farmers) of allowing runoff from a pile of chicken litter to enter the Chesapeake Bay. The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) investigated the allegation and found improperly stored treated fertilizer, not poultry litter. Indeed, MDE inspectors reported that “no animal manure piles were observed outside.” The Hudsons promptly complied with an MDE directive to move the fertilizer. Case closed, right? Wrong.

That didn’t stop the Waterkeepers from suing the Hudsons (and Perdue, whom the Hudsons supply). Even more outrageously, the Waterkeepers have used taxpayer-funded law clinics to do grunt work for their campaign against these family farmers, drawing an objection from Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (D).